London 2012

Being my mother's daughter, I have faithfully been instilled with a serious love for the Olympic games since I was a wee child.  I've had yesterday circled on our calendar for at least a month and even though David probably ought to have been studying, I told him the Opening Ceremonies were more than a worthy excuse to eat pizza with me on the couch and ignore his books.

Speaking of pizza, we made a pretty darn good one for dinner last night - a strawberry balsamic  pizza with roasted chicken, sweet onion, & applewood smoked bacon.  It was surprisingly simple to make and turned out DE-licious.  Find the recipe HERE.

MAKE IT. 

EAT IT.

LOVE IT.

 On the topic of love, did I mention I love the Olympics?  My mother kindly sent me a box of red, white, & blue decorations in the mail at the beginning of this month and, yes, I put them up last night for our own little Opening Ceremonies party.  And yes, they will stay up for the next two weeks while we watch little else than the Olympics, So You Think You Can Dance, & Project Runway.

Gosh I love summertime.

Go Team USA!!

a homecoming

For the past 2 weeks my little sis has been far, far away on the island of Fiji doing humanitarian work with THIS awesome group.  We've missed her dearly and today she made it home (after a 3 hour delay going through customs...)! 

Welcome home Brookie!  We love you so much are glad to have you back in the US of A!

happy saturday

This weekend was made just a little sweeter by getting to see these two awesome kids before they made the trek back to Utah.  They went out of their way to drive all the way up to Pasadena to have lunch with us before hopping back on the 15, Provo-bound.

That's true love right there.

So good to see you Cases!  We love you guys!

P.S. Next time lets take our picture somewhere cuter than the parking lot, yes?

printables

If Pinterest is good for one thing it is definitely for finding free printable goodies.  I found this link awhile back and just couldn't resist trying it out the other day. . .

Isn't that so cute?  And it's F-R-E-E.  I just need to find me some nice paper to print it off on.  

P.S. The Wedding Chicks have a BUNCH of other (cute) printable freebies - check them out HERE.

P.S.S. I'm also seriously considering printing off THIS totes adorabes milk jug measurement guide for our kitchen.  Thoughts?

highlights no. 43

 

Happy Wednesday!  I'm fully glad to have hump day up and over with because this weekend is going to be lots of fun (cue hanging out with these BFF's).  

In other news, I made THIS lovely dish for dinner tonight and we can definitely recommend it; I'm pretty sure it's impossible to go wrong with sweet potatoes.  And one of these days I want to make a batch of THESE babies.  Don't homemade pretzels sound delish?  I just need to get my hands on some kosher salt.

Anywho, enough food talk - here are some posts from around the webosphere:

an interesting look into the lives of London's cabbies

the best pie chart

stinkin' cute thank you cards

happy hotdog season!

a yummy looking ice cream joint (even if the floor was a bit grimy last time we walked by)

and a couple free things we'll be hitting up this summer in LA:

     Shakespeare

     & movies/ concerts 

xo

double uno

Today was our 11 month anniversary.

In one month we will have been married for A WHOLE YEAR.

Is this real life?  Since when did married life begin to feel more normal and natural than being single?  I still haven't stopped telling people we're newlyweds.  Maybe I ought to reconsider that. . .

We celebrated by accepting an invitation to dinner with a family in our ward and the missionaries.  Always a treat.  And I'm a pretty big fan of any occasion where someone else volunteers to feed us a meal.  Done and done.

As a treat, I also made David's favorite oatmeal raisin cookies for the occasion (the key is soaking the raisins - so good).  Fun fact: both David and I will often go for oatmeal raisin cookies over chocolate chip.  Yes, we're both aware that we're crazy.

Thanks for a great 11 months David!  I love ya!

a cultured birthday

Last Saturday was my oldest brother Christopher's 29th birthday and, for the first time in a long time, we actually got to spend it with him!  Both Christopher and Kristin just happen to be down in California for other reasons (like little brothers getting home from missions and family reunions) and we were lucky enough to snag the pair of them away for Saturday afternoon. 

Celebrating commenced with a Sprinkles' cupcake followed by a trip to the Getty, sketches by Gustav Klimt, a room full of Impressionistic art, and was topped off with lunch at a fabulous little cafe in Beverly Hills and a stroll down Rodeo Drive. 

I'd say that was a pretty successful birthday.

Did I mention lunch was good?  I wouldn't resist taking a picture of my humus and vege panini.  And my couscous?  SO delicious.  We'll be going back to the Panini Cafe for sure.

Happy birthday Chris!  Thanks for a great excuse to celebrate!

adventures

Yesterday was a lovely adventure to Harbor Cove beach out in Ventura with some ladies from our ward.
Pros:  We parked two feet away from the beach, and it was FREE
Cons:  The beach was CHILLY, and, unfortunately, the sun never came out.

Additional Pro: The drive from Santa Clarita to Ventura was worth the goosebumps.  It was delightful and I will most definitely will be exploring it with David sometime soon.

We also stopped at the most darling farmer's market right off the side of the highway that had these delicious Mexican macaroons.  I'm not sure how they're different from regular macaroons, but they were yummy.  I'm ready for another round.

P.S. This is the new ($20 from Marshalls!) rug in our kitchen...your thoughts?  I'm still trying to decide, but to be honest I need to figure it out quick before it kills someone.  There's no rug pad underneath there and I've started to get pretty good at slipping around the kitchen.  David not so much.  Yikes!

highlights no. 42

Somewhere between cleaning our microfiber couches (a challenge - I found this helpful) and buying a new rug for our kitchen I completely forgot to post yesterday.  So this is Web Wednesday.  On Thursday.  It happens.

This morning is cloudy and delightful out in Santa Clarita and my weather app even says it's going to RAIN today.  I don't believe it, of course, but it's nice to see the optimism all the same.  I miss those Utah summer thunderstorms.  Today, however,  I'm headed down to the beach in Ventura with a few ladies from church - hopefully we find a bit of sun down there!

I NEED want this poster

a good article on what drowning actually looks like

you go Meryl

oh the things you can do with paint swatches

how cute is this girl and her collection idea?

modern vase

a great (and feasible) kitchen make-over - there are some really great tips!

how to take better vacation pictures (because we all know we want to)

AND in case you haven't laugh yet today:
please look at THIS
and watch THIS (and yes I just watched it again when I posted this)

xo

thought of the day

This print should probably be in my home somewhere.

Picture via Home Archive Ask

Sunday dinners

David and I are definitely missing the big Nemrow-clan Sunday dinners back in Provo, but we're making up for it around here with our own little Sunday dinners for two.  I love being in the kitchen with David (which doesn't happen too much any more), and on Sundays we have the whole the afternoon together to prep and cook - it's a hoot. 

Last night we tried THIS recipe and, although it could use some tweaks (less thyme, always less thyme), we gave it at least a 7 out of 10, and are planning to give it another go with our improvements.  Perhaps it will make it up to the 9 range eventually. . .

Also, please notice that David was a dear and set out our little vase of fake flowers for the occasion - we're pretty high-to-do around here, you know.

And we topped the night off with Life Is Beautiful - have you ever seen that film?  It's lovely, AND it's on Netflix - double lovely.
Chao!

today

Yes it was. 
It included sunbathing by the pool, reading as long as I liked, a surprise lunch with daddio, walking in the sunshine, eating peaches & nectarines, and spending it all with my #1 man.

Yep.  Today was a good day.


Left via White Horse Home
Right via He Said, Just Draw (entry on 1 August 2011)

fail & mail

Alright, so, I failed.
I honestly didn't take a single picture all during our 4th of July family reunion festivities.  I guess I was just too wrapped up in enjoying the day, the family, the fireworks, and the fact that David didn't have to go to work.  Ah well, we had a great time, and now it's back to reality (which isn't too bad either).

In other news we got ourselves TWO lovely packages in the mail the other day.  Don't you just love getting packages?  They're pretty much the best - I'm a big fan of snail mail.

1) In honor of the upcoming London Olympics, my mom* put together a red, white, & blue party in a box, complete with pom poms, glow bracelets, and pinwheels.
* To clue you in, my mom used to have the Olympic theme song as her ring tone - we're kind of big Olympics fans over in the Tobler home.

And I'm pretty sure we're going to have to throw a big celebratory shindig for the opening ceremonies (July 27th!) - I can't wait!

and 2) our WEDDING ALBUM is finally here!  And I love, love, love, love it!  Thank you Pinhole Press!  You're the best!

highlights no. 41

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!  We're celebrating with family, parades, red/white/blue, and fireworks - is there any other way to do it?  Hope your 4th is patriotic and includes some form of BBQ - now here are some posts from around the web!

Yay Summer!

Buddha pears - for real

THIS is a great idea

I love these stamps

typographic jokes

(darling) old man onesies

steal like an artist 

a great list of low cal (and low guilt) snacks

3 things all boys should know

THIS quote is my favorite

1 skirt 3 ways

A-mazing cookies

101 beauty tips (yes I read all of them)

and the loveliest postcard save-the-dates

xo

thoughts

So far, Craigslist has done well by us.  We've gotten a lovely kitchen table, dresser, and mirror with help from Craig, however, there are a few things I've learned whilst perusing his listings:

1. There are some really, REALLY great deals to be found online

2. If you want to find those deals - congratulations - you've now got yourself a new full-time job

3. While working this full-time job you will soon come to recognize the handiwork of some less than desirable sellers (here's looking at you "rustic furniture" from Redondo Beach)

4.  Decent, matching bedside tables are quite difficult to come by

5. No, another coat of paint won't make that dresser look any better - just walk away

and 6. All wicker furniture should be banned from existence.  Period.  No excuses.

P.S. Did you know there's a "show image" button you can press to see a thumbnail picture next to each listing?  It's right underneath the search box.
World. Rocked.

Picture via Apartment Therapy
Found via Pinterest

simply put

Today I like this quote:

Picture via Eye Candy
Found via Pinterest